A Little Mischief by Amelia Grey Page A

keep his admiration for her from growing. Or his attraction.
    “Very well, Miss Winslowe. I admit you deserve an apology. I’m sorry for the way I treated you this afternoon. I should have been more understanding of your plight.”
    She looked directly into his eyes. “Does that mean I’m vindicated?”
    Daniel felt his frustration easing away and his knotted muscles relax. Her games be damned. She was too engaging to ignore, and he didn’t want to anymore.
    He gave her a genuine smile. “Yes.”
    “Apology accepted.”
    “Good. Now can we get to the problem at hand?” Daniel asked.
    “I suppose we must. Mr. Throckmorten has done it to us again.”
    “Gretchen was standing over a dead man when we found her. Now that man has disappeared.”
    “That he has, but I don’t see it as a problem for us, my lord.”
    “You amaze me, Miss Winslowe.”
    “Thank you.”
    She never failed to say the unexpected. “Again, I’m not sure what I said was a compliment.”
    “It sounded like one to me.”
    “Take it however you wish, but I still have a problem.”
    “Lord Colebrooke, perhaps you should just have faith that Mr. Throckmorten will show up looking as healthy as he did when he arrived at the party tonight.”
    “That will not happen this time, Miss Winslowe.”
    “If that is indeed the case, then what will we do if his body shows up again?”
    “I don’t know because I don’t know what is going on here, but I will get to the bottom of it.” He paused. “I’m going to need your help, Miss Winslowe.”
    “Then call me Isabella.”
    He cleared his throat. He did not need to get any more intimate with her. “I don’t think that’s necessary or appropriate.”
    “Nonsense. If you want my help, Daniel, it is. I refuse to continue calling you by the formal Lord Colebrooke when Daniel is much faster and, shall I say, will put us on friendlier terms.”
    She was in control. She was seducing him with her attractiveness, with her forthright manner. And he was letting her!
    “Very well, Isabella.” He paused. He liked the way her name tripped of his tongue so easily, so seductively. “I want to get Gretchen away from here as quickly as possible. Would you and your chaperone see to it that she gets home safely?”
    “Of course we will. But what are you going to do? You cannot tell anyone you think Mr. Throckmorten is dead if you have no body. Everyone will treat you the way you treated me this afternoon.”
    “And the way you treated me just now. I realize that, Isabella.”
    “Then all we need to do is return to the party and say nothing.”
    “Yes, but after I see you back inside, I plan to go talk to the footmen and the coach drivers. There’s only one way Throckmorten was able to get out of this garden tonight, and that was under someone else’s strength.”
    “You think someone picked him up and carried him out to his carriage?”
    “To someone’s carriage, yes. Obviously Gretchen stumbled upon the body before whoever killed him could remove him. They must have been hiding in one of the tall shrubs. Then we came along.”
    “Whoever it was must have heard every word we said about the man.”
    “No doubt. The killer must have come out of hiding and taken the body away while we were talking to Stonehurst. He probably passed Throckmorten off as a man too deep in his cups to walk. He would have had to put him in a carriage. I want to see if anyone was seen carrying a drunken man to a coach.”
    “That seems the sensible thing to do tonight. Then I think we should go to Mr. Throckmorten’s house tomorrow afternoon to see if he might have returned from the dead again.”
    Daniel smiled. Because she was so engaging, he remained tolerant.
    “First, trust me, Miss Winslowe, the man is not alive. Second, there is no we. It’s me. I will do these things alone. There is no reason for you to be further involved in this unsavory matter.”
    “The name is Isabella, remember. And I am involved in this up to